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Mishal Husain introduces pieces on: racism forty years after Blair Peach's death in Southall; the man in the caravan; Easter and forgiveness; mermaiding; and Yorkshire daffodils.

In the latest programme of the monthly series, Mishal Husain introduces dispatches from journalists and writers reflecting the range of contemporary life across the United Kingdom.
Shabnam Grewal grew up near Southall where, forty years ago, the New Zealand-born teacher, Blair Peach, was hit on the head by a police officer and later died. He was taking part in a protest against racism. The west London suburb had already witnessed the racially motivated murder of an Asian teenager. She remembers the tension and fears of the time and reflects on them in the company of her young son.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ News presenter, Tanya Beckett, has found herself part of a "Lady in the Van"-style drama - only in her case it's been a man in his fifties and a caravan. She muses on the unexpected connections she's forged with her unconventional neighbour amid the demands of contemporary living for them both.
Martin Bashir, the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ's Religion Editor, found himself being asked about the meaning of Easter and has discovered that pondering a long-held guilty secret has helped him explain the most important festival in the Christian calendar.
Jane Labous in Dorset takes the plunge and goes mermaiding in Blandford Forum and finds out how the swimming craze that involves donning a fin and a tail is found empowering by women swimmers of different ages.
And Dan Whitworth, reporter for Radio 4's Money Box programme, prepares to return home to Sheriff Hutton in North Yorkshire and enjoy the spectacle of the flowers which are synonymous with spring and indicate the thriving nature of the village.
Producer Simon Coates

Available now

28 minutes

Last on

Sun 21 Apr 2019 13:30

Broadcast

  • Sun 21 Apr 2019 13:30

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